Chapter 2
Hermione's day at the ministry flew by, but part of her thoughts were preoccupied with whether or not her letter had got back to her secret admirer. Although her mind was else where she still managed to get a load of work done that day as she couldn't afford to get behind, with several new codes coming in every day. By the time 4:00 came Hermione had solved several new codes and reported a fair few of them to the office for the investigation of ancient magic practices and artefacts as to her they seemed like they were written in an ancient magical language and from what she knew of old magic a lot of it was dangerous, so she left it to them to sort them out, not knowing that that specific office was where her letter had come from. When she had finished her last code of the day Hermione made her way to the coffee house to meet her friends as she always did.
Over in the office for the investigation of ancient magic practices and artefacts a certain 21 year old was working hard at these newly cracked codes, figuring them out as to what old magic they held and whether or not they were dangerous. His mind was having some difficulty focusing properly on these ancient codes though as he was thinking it was ironic that Hermione knew who she was sending these codes to in the office, but she had no idea that the same person was the one sending her the letters. When his first memo came through from her with a suspicious code in it he couldn't help but chuckle silently to himself at the irony of it. Realizing he was late finishing from the extra work he had been given he packed everything up and tidied his desk and made his way down to the Atrium so he could apparrate home.
Minutes later he was comfortably back in his large London apartment, and muttered a summon under his breath and a second later a pop was heard and a tiny house elf was bowing down in front of him. After ordering the house elf to make him a nice meal and bring him a cold glass of wine, he made his way to the library room of his apartment. From the outside of this building you wouldn't guess that it was so large and extravagant on the inside, which made it obvious to any visiting wizards or witches that this flat had undergone some rather extensive spell work to make it as large as it was on the inside, but to unsuspecting muggles they just seemed to assume it was the style of the building to look bigger on the inside than it did from the outside. Once the man was in his library he sat at his desk and pulled out one of his many large books on ancient magic and began reading up on something that he thought may have to do with one of the codes he was sent that day.
What seemed like hours passed and the house elf appeared at his side again informing its master that his meal was prepared and waiting in the dining room for him. So the man thanked the elf and made his way to his dining room. Upon finishing his meal, he took the remainder of the wine back to his library and pulled out Hermione's reply from his pocket and began to think about how to reply. Time passed and eventually he decided her letter was suitably responded to, and once again put a spell on the memo parchment so that it could return to the sender with a reply on it. Hoping Hermione would figure out that she had to use the same memo parchment again he didn't write it in the letter. Once the spell was cast he put the letter into his briefcase ready to be sent with the next morning memos, and he headed to bed.
Hermione arrived at the ministry the same time as she always did and headed to the lift to take her to the 3rd floor and to her office. As always when she arrived there was a pile of codes for her to break. Feeling she needed a cup of coffee to set her mind to it she went to the dispenser and got herself a cup before tackling the pile of work on her desk. The day passed without any thing unusual happening and it was soon time for Hermione to leave. As it was Ginny's birthday Hermione was throwing a formal dinner that night for her and her closest friends and family. Just as she was getting ready to leave, a lone memo fluttered in through her office door and landed on her desk. In case it was important and urgent Hermione opened it to find out that it was a reply from her admirer. As she was in a rush she decided not to read it there and then but take it home with her to read after the party, so she slipped it into her bag and left the office and went to the Atrium and apparrated home.
As Ginny didn't know about the party she was glad that Wednesday's were the days that Ginny worked later than usual so Hermione had a couple of extra hours to get everything ready. After magically preparing the meal and setting it to cook itself she went back into the lounge and began to decorate the living room. Half an hour passed and the lounge look gorgeous, it was elegantly decorated with sparkling 21 banners, and looked like it was fit for a princess' birthday. Hermione had also put an enchantment on the room to make it bigger as there was meant to be a lot of people coming to surprise Ginny. The guests were meant to be arriving any time now, as it was 7:00 and they were meant to be arriving between now and half past, Hermione made her way into her bedroom to get into her gown, and fixed her hair into an elegant bun. She then went into Ginny's room and magicked an elegant gown onto her bed for her to change into when she got back.
After making sure that everything was ready for the party she went into the kitchen to check on the meal she was cooking. When she was satisfied that everything was ready, she sat and waited for the guests to arrive, and sure enough just minutes later all the Weasleys's arrived, and shortly after them, Tonks, Lupin, Moody, Mundungus, and finally followed Harry. Ginny was due back at 8:00 so everyone got themselves some punch and waited for Ginny to arrive and surprise her. As 8:00 neared, Hermione told everyone to hide and she switched off the lights. And sure enough no sooner had the lights gone out and Hermione had hidden in the shadows did Ginny apparrate into the living room.
"Hermione?"
"SURPRISE" everyone called whilst jumping out of their hiding places and flicking on the lights.
"Oh my, wow hi everyone, I can't believe you did this for me Hermione" Ginny said hugging her. "I thought we were going for a quiet meal, just friends."
"Well we thought we'd surprise you. There is a gown waiting for you on your bed, go and get changed into it and then we'll get the party really started". Hermione said ushering Ginny into her bedroom. Only a few minutes passed and Ginny was back looking gorgeously elegant in the dress Hermione conjured up for her, and the party began. Ginny greeted her parents and brothers and then went onto talk to Tonks. After mingling for a while Ginny went over and received the best birthday present of all off of Harry.
" Ginny can I talk to you for a moment on the balcony?" Harry asked pulling Ginny gently to the side.
"Yeah of course what is it?" Ginny replied
" We've been together for a long time now, and I just know it's the right time to ask. I love you with all of my heart and I never want to lose you" Harry finished getting down on one knee. " I guess what I am trying to say is, Will you marry me?"
Ginny was almost in tears at his proposal and she just pulled him up kissed him lovingly on the lips and replied " Yes, yes, yes, of course I will, I love you so much yes the answer is yes!" They kissed passionately for a minute and then went back into the party to tell everyone the good news.
"Guys we have an announcement to make" Ginny called to everyone to get their attention. "We're engaged!"
After this everyone went into congratulations and the party was not only a birthday party but an engagement party. Molly Weasley even added some extra decorations to the room to say congratulations. The party continued late into the night and it was near one in the morning by the time everyone had left, bar Harry of course who decided to stay the night to properly celebrate his engagement to Ginny. Once everyone had gone a few spells later and the room was back to normal, and you'd never have guessed that a party had gone on just minutes before.
"Hermione thank you so much for this party it was amazing and so unexpected. Thank you". Ginny said hugging Hermione. " See you tomorrow, all I'm going to say apart from thank you again is that I'm glad I don't have work in the morning, anyway night Hermione and thanks again" and Ginny and Harry made their way to the bedroom.
When Hermione was cosy in bed she too realized that she was also relieved that she didn't have work tomorrow, as she was worn out from the party and she just wanted a slight break. Suddenly thinking of work she remembered the letter that she received and went to her bag and pulled it out to see what it said.
Dear Hermione
Your letter was a pleasure to receive this morning, and I'm glad that you replied and haven't already rejected me. The questions you ask as to my identity were expected but unfortunately I cannot reveal the information you require as I fear if I tell you before you get to know me, that you will discard me and reject me based on our past together, but I take the time now to reassure you I have changed completely since you knew me before. How is life in your office? I, myself have never been any good at deciphering secret codes, and I admire you for your ability to do so. Tell me, what do you do in your free time and what did you do in the time between starting work at the Ministry and leaving Hogwarts?, no doubt you came top of the year as you always were the smartest witch of our time. I hear you're still in close contact with Harry, and the two Weasleys's, I find it touching that you all stayed friends even after school, as I lost contact with all my friends a few months after we left. I very much want to meet with you but I feel it is way too soon for me to reveal myself to you at the moment. I need to gain your trust and I need for you to know me, as me through my letters and not from what you already know of me. Anyway I'm sorry to leave you so soon, but it's getting late and I have a very early start tomorrow as I have to be at the Ministry for 6:00 in the morning. I hope to hear from you soon.
With Love ... -X-
After reading the letter over Hermione stored it with the copy of the other one in her desk drawer and went to sleep, deciding that she would write back tomorrow during her day off ready to send it back to him when she was back in work on Friday.
